Rachel describes her own work perfectly, I almost don't have to! This shows how much she really knows herself and her work, and I admire that. My mind probably changes every week. The one thing that really fascinated me about her work, other than the soft, natural feeling, was that she uses a grid in most of her pieces. Whether it's visible or not, it's there, and it stands out from a lot of collages which can sometimes be hectic and devoid of structure. I would add "soothing" to her list of words.
Rachel T. Robertson
www.racheltrobertson.com, www.racheltrobertson.etsy.com
San Francisco, CA (born in Wisconsin)
Q: Describe your work in 10 words or less.
A: Quiet, botanical, detailed, layered and stitched.
Q: What do you like to work with (magazines, photographs, vintage)? Be specific!
A: I like to work with papers of all kinds: printmaking, tracing, marbled, painted, gridded, lined and printed. I also like to incorporate found papers/ephemera (old envelopes, postcards, book plates) as well as postage stamps. Photos sometimes. Needle and thread always. I have also been known to chop up some of my old artwork into pieces that I reuse in new work.
Q: How long have you been creating collages and what made you start?
A: I've been making collages since college. It actually started in a Sculpture class. I made some 3-D pieces that were very collage-like and something sort of clicked in my head. Assembling various elements together into one piece made lots of sense to me and seemed like second nature. I started doing that with my 2-D work and I haven't stopped since.
Q: Are you solely an artist, or do you work in another profession?
A: I have a full-time job as a retail display designer.
Q: Do you have any formal art training?
A: I have a B.S. in Art from University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Q: Explain your favourite techniques.
A: I like layering transparent/semi-transparent papers with my own drawings and found papers. I am obsessed with stitching things together either by hand or with a sewing machine.
Q: Describe your favourite piece ever created.
A: One piece that I really like is very simple. It's 8.5" x 11" and consists mainly of 1) a background made from a fragment of an old black and white etching I did in school with subtle botanical pencil drawings, 2) a small rectangle of cantaloupe orange painted paper covered with an outline of a maple tree sprout done on tracing paper in ink 3) a postage stamp with a butterfly 4) a long thin strip of orange paper running down the left hand border half obscured by a piece of semi-transparent rice paper 5) tiny hand stiches done with off-white thread scattered across the piece.
Q: What other artists do you admire?
A: I like so many that it is difficult to list them all. Among the artists/designers I admire, in no particular order: Robert Rauschenberg, David Hockney, Robin & Lucienne Day, Lotta Jansdotter, Thomas Campbell, Joseph Cornell, Charles & Ray Eames, Hans Wegner, Alexander Girard, Richard Diebenkorn, Isamu Noguchi, Hella Jongerius, Phoebe Washburn just to name a few.
Thanks Rachel!
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